Overage Haryana players thrown out of U-17 nationals

Kabir Mandrekar

The Haryana team was disqualified from the ongoing under-17 National Hockey Championship here after 10 players from their 16-member squad were found to be overage.

Giving details about the development, the Mumbai Hockey Association secretary Gurbax Singh Grewal informed that Haryana could even be further penalised. “We have sent a letter to the Indian Hockey Federation regarding this matter and a final decision about a further penalty will be taken by them. We have spent up to Rs 1500 per player for this test and will recover it by canceling the team’s allowances,” said Singh.

The tests were conducted by Dr Suhas Pophale, the tournament doctor, after the Bhopal team registered a complaint to the MHA following their 9-1 drubbing against Haryana. The tests showed seven players were over the age of 18 years and three players were over 17.

Bhopal and Rajasthan qualified for the quarter-finals. Bhopal defeated Kerala 4-2. Patiala trounced Puducherry 12-2 to pave the way for Rajasthan to qualify from group ‘D’.